Killer sentenced to life in brutal 1982 murder of Karen Stitt
DNA links suspect on Maui to teen's brutal slaying in Bay Area in 1982
Sunnyvale detectives believe they've cracked the 40-year-old unsolved murder of Karen Stitt, a 15-year-old who was sexually assaulted and stabbed dozens of times. Gary Gene Ramirez, 75, was arrested in Maui after authorities say that DNA tests tied him to the attack.
PALO ALTO, Calif. - An elderly man was sentenced to life in prison for the long-unsolved 1982 murder of a Palo Alto teen.
Gary Ramirez, 78, was convicted earlier this year in the killing of 15-year-old Karen Stitt.
"Over 40 years ago, Karen Stitt lost her life, but she was not forgotten," Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement.
Teen was on her way home
What we know:
On Sept. 2, 1982, Stitt took a bus from her Palo Alto home to Sunnyvale to meet her boyfriend. The couple played video games at a 7-Eleven before heading to Golfland, a popular miniature golf course. Around 12:30 a.m., her boyfriend walked her to the area of El Camino Real and South Wolfe Road to catch the bus home, investigators said. That was the last time she was seen alive.
DNA evidence helps link Hawaii man to teen's 1982 murder in Sunnyvale: police
DNA technology leads to the arrest of a 75-year-old man from Hawaii who's now accused of murdering a teen 40 years ago in Sunnyvale.
Brutal killing
Dig deeper:
The next morning, her body was discovered about 100 yards from the bus stop, next to a blood-stained cinder block, according to the district attorney’s office. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed more than 50 times. The killer left blood and bodily fluids on the teen’s body.
Despite extensive investigations and DNA database searches, the case remained unsolved for decades.
In 2019, a Sunnyvale detective received a tip that led authorities to identify Ramirez — a former Fresno resident living on the island of Maui — as the lead suspect. His DNA matched blood and bodily fluid samples found on Stitt’s body, the county crime lab confirmed.
He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in 25 years.
The Source: The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, previous KTVU reporting.